


ProtoCreed Mythic AU

by Assassin_J



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types, Prototype (Video Games)
Genre: Agender Alex Mercer, Agender Character, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Based on a Tumblr Post, Consentacles, F/F, F/M, Interspecies Sex, Magical Creatures, MerMay, MerMay 2018, OCs - Freeform, Other, ProtoCreed, Sea Creature Alex Mercer, Trans Male Character, Trans Man Desmond Miles, Underwater Sex, au as all fuck, ratings vary by chapter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-05
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2019-05-01 07:34:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14515494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Assassin_J/pseuds/Assassin_J
Summary: Pockets of magical creatures, known as Mythics, live across the globe. From seacreatures to witches to dryads to fairies, each has their own society and lives mostly hidden from human knowledge.Previously titled "MerMay 2018 ProtoCreed AU".





	1. Deon and Daya crush on some humans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter rating G

There were some clouds strewn across the sky, but they were fluffy and nonthreatening. The sun wasn't beating down harshly, and there was a friendly breeze coming off the water. A half-dozen young women from BMCC, a human institution of learning, were taking advantage of this fairly nice weather for a picnic afternoon.

And on that same beach, though not close to the students, there were three sea creatures too, lounging against some rocks in an intertidal pool. They went unnoticed by the student group, because the elder one had cast a glamour to deter the eyes of non-Mythic beings. That elder one's skin was pale grey-cream, his hair rich inky waves that fell past his shoulders. His scales and tentacles were black highlighted in red. When he was young, those colors had been darker and bolder, but in the past couple years they'd acquired a dusting of gray. His name was Alex, and he was only up on the beach today because the other two sea creatures had quite insisted.

Those other two were younger, and somewhat resembled him, in that they had the same night-shaded hair and black-red tentacles. They were his children, though in fact they were not children anymore. They were fully mature, in the prime seasons of their lifespan, as shown by the bold stripes on their dorsal scales. In contrast to Alex, their upper bodies were more "flesh-toned" as humans would say, with their limited view of what kinds of flesh counted for that phrase.

Also in contrast to Alex, and quite unusually for merfolk, these two had hair that grew in fantastic powerful curls. The pale-skinned one had it cut short, at ear-level. His name was Deon. The copper-skinned one had it long, but gathered in two frizzy bunches. Her name was Daya.

And, as yet another point in contrast to Alex, they were quite engrossed in observing the humans.

"That woman's got food on her mouth," Daya said. She was able to distinguish such details from fifty meters away, through the ocean wave spray, because merfolk have a far greater visual acuity than humans, a trait highly suited for navigating dark deep waters. Daya didn't know this fact though. She just couldn't stop staring at the young adult over there, chatting to her peers, totally unaware of the mustard blob on the corner of her lips. "I can't stand it." Daya touched the side of her own mouth in affinity. "Someone should help her get it off."

"Which one, who needs help?" Deon asked absently.

"The brown one with the red shirt."

"Oh." Deon laughed and cupped some handfuls of water over himself. "I didn't even see her, I was looking at the sand-colored one, with that black... thing." He gestured around his chest to approximate the bikini, which he didn't know the word for.

"Small-shirt?" Daya offered.

"Small-shirt, maybe. But I think the bottom part is part of it too," Deon murmured. The woman got up and went over to kneel by a basket. He focused his stare at the fabric tied around her hips, curving over her rear and between her legs. "What's that thing called, papa?"

"Hh, what?" Alex grunted, shifting to sit up.

"The sand-colored woman- I think she's a woman, it's hard to tell- what's the thing she's wearing? The black tied things."

Alex turned around and took a very cursory glance at the group of humans. "I don't know." He laid back down in the little pool, trying to get comfortable again. "They're so backwards. Invented clothes to protect from the sun, then they go out in the sun with just a few scraps of it on. Just stay naked why don't they?"

"Swimsuit!" Deon remembered with a grin. "Father said they're called swimsuits."

"But they're not swimming," Daya said. "And wouldn't those clothes get in the way of swimming anyway?"

"I told you, they're backwards," Alex muttered.

"Well perhaps they'll be swimming after they eat. Oh, and the top part is needed to hold their chest glands in place!" Deon informed Daya smartly.

"They just float away without something to hold them on? How odd." Daya shook her head and ducked underwater briefly to remoisten herself.

Deon did the same. 

"The chest glands are absolutely ridiculous," Alex said to himself. "I'm quite glad Desmond removed his."

When the younger two mer came back up, the humans were putting away their food and getting out a brightly-striped sphere.

"Ooh, what are they doing with that?" Deon asked.

"I don't know," Alex said again.

The humans spread out in a loose formation of three and three. One of them, Daya's interest actually, tossed the sphere up above her. It spun in place a moment, white and red and blue against the sky. And then as it fell, she gave it a sharp bat, and it flew up again, in an arc over to the other side of their formation.

Deon's interest leapt into the air and swatted the sphere back.

Two more of the humans scrambled and jumped for the sphere, but they missed it by inches and it fell far behind them.

Daya's interest laughed and picked up the sphere to launch it again.

Daya clapped her hands. "Ohhhh, that looks so fun!"

"Look how they jump!" Deon said. "Their legs are so wonderful!"

The young sea creatures watched for a couple minutes more, with rapt glittery eyes.

"Do you think they would let us play?" Deon asked.

"Deon no," Alex instantly said, sitting up again.

"Papa why?" Daya asked, half bitter, half sad. "Why can't we go make friends with them?"

Alex frowned. "They won't understand us. They'll be afraid."

Daya slapped her palms on the water, raising up angry little geysers. "But papa! We don't have any friends our age underwater-"

"Because the humans hunted us!" Alex snapped. "Humans are the reason we are so few in number!"

"You said they were afraid, why would they hunt us if they're afraid? Doesn't make sense," Deon said, swimming around to flank Alex.

"And Father is a human, isn't he?" Daya added in. "He took you for his mate and he wasn't afraid!"

Alex threw a hand through his hair. "No- he was afraid. He'd never seen any Prototi before."

"But he didn't kill you!" Deon said gleefully. "He fell in love. Both of you fell in love."

"I didn't know he was a human," Alex said, semi-softly. "Not until after you were hatched."

Deon flipped two handsful of water over him. "If you had known, you wouldn't have ever given him a chance."

"Yes, yes, fine!" Alex admitted. "Some humans are decent." He laid back in the pool and pulled a long breath through his gills. "Some humans are wonderful, even."

Daya sank down beside him. "But... you're still not going to let us go meet those women, are you?"

He shook his head. "Not today, definitely not."

Deon groaned.

"Hey, hey!" Alex pulled Deon down under the surface into a loose hug. "I just want us all to be the safest we can be. Humans have hunted us in the past, and these days they have even more terrible weapons. The scar on my back, that's from when I was young and careless and a human wounded me."

"They don't look like they could hurt us, even if they wanted to," Deon said. "They look soft and cute."

"It was almost a miracle that you two were born," Alex said, curling his fingers in his son's hair. "I don't want to lose you."

"Papa," Deon whined.

"You've got to be very cautious if your hearts are really so set on meeting humans. To begin with, you can't approach them in a group like this. And you can't really approach them at all if they're on dry land."

Deon pushed free and popped above the water to look back at the humans. "What if they come swimming after their game is finished? Then can we talk to them? Oh please, papa, please, I know they won't hurt us!"

Alex drew in another long breath. "If one or two alone come near us... then we'll talk to them."

Daya squeed in delight and hugged him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Daya is the creation of [fireinmyveins](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fireinmyveins/pseuds/fireinmyveins)
> 
>  ~~also rip me i got 85% of the way done writing this before realizing i gave them fish mer bodies instead of the octo mer bodies they're supposed to "canonically" have, so that's why it's an AU of an AU~~ ok fixed March 16 2019


	2. Searching the Sea (part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> chapter rating: Teen (references to sex)
> 
> Desmond Andino, raised by a single mom, never really wondered who his father was. Not until after he turned twenty and some weird shit started to happen around him. Turns out those were his magic powers activating. What kind of supernatural creature was his dad, anyway?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the tale of Deon and Daya will continue in the future, but for now here's this, which takes place years before the previous chapter, and should answer some of your questions.
> 
> (inspired by [this tumblr post](http://plainbytheriver.tumblr.com/post/172551690992/howtobangyourmonster-writing-prompt-s-your))

"It will last until the next moon's-height," Desmond's mother said as she handed him the bottle, "so keep that in mind." It was a greenish-blue liquid she'd mixed up on the stove. It was going to allow them to search underwater for Desmond's father.

Possible father. They weren't sure.

He hadn't had any particular plans for this summer. Maybe get a job mowing lawns or painting houses or being a lifeguard. Something normal, ya know? But then some weird shit started to happen. Objects getting lost and then appearing in his pockets, birds gathering in a crowd by his window and chattering to him when he was trying to focus on his games, a sudden allergy to his favorite potato chips, stuff like that.

When he developed the "magic sight" in mid-May, his mom finally broke down and told him what was up. Number one, she was a witch. Number two, Desmond had some supernatural blood running through his veins. But she wasn't sure what kind, because... she was kind of a ho.

 

* * *

_"I think your dad is either the Inuit merman or the Japanese ghost hunter. No wait, he's half-Japanese. But then again there was also that caliente eagle Animagus. Or maybe-"_

_"Mom! How many goddamn magic beings did you screw?!"_

* * *

 

And that's why they were doing this, this summer road trip to try and discover his parentage. They were out on the New England coast tonight, Desmond in swim trunks and a mesh athletic shirt, Elena in a frilled one-piece bathing suit.

Desmond took the potion she was holding out. The cheap plastic bottle filled with glittery supernatural fluid made for an odd aesthetic, something you'd see getting thousands of notes on tumblr. "So we just... go down there and there'll be mermaids?"

"Use your magic sight, mijito. It should guide you to nearby Mythics."

"Right, sure. And then we just ask around for Bill?"

"William Miles. Or... Allakariallak's his native name."

"The ocean's pretty big, Mom. You sure he's anywhere near this place?"

Elena patted her foot on the rocky outcropping. "This is the spot he took me to after that last night we shared together."

That was decades ago, but... "If you say so."

"And we'll split up to cover more area. Use this to find your way back." Elena handed him an amulet on a leather strap. It was amber-gold, the diameter of a slider burger, and a glowing spot was floating over the surface. "It'll act as a compass, homed to this location," she said, tapping her foot on the rock again.

Desmond put the strap around his neck and tucked the pendant under his shirt.

She unscrewed the cap on her potion bottle and motioned for him to do the same. "Go on, drink it now, before the witching hour is over."

It was thick, like coffee creamer, and sour, like poorly mixed lemonade. He gulped it. "Bleh."

"It doesn't taste great, I know. Now you should get in the water as soon as you can."

Desmond turned and took steps toward the water. He felt a heat rising into his throat. Well, not his throat. The sides of his neck. He touched a hand there and felt lines folding into the muscle.

"You should get in the water," Elena repeated.

"Aallright," Desmond said, putting a little jovial spin on it. "How bout a cannonball?"

She smiled. "Sure."

"All right. Here I go." He slipped off his sandals, put them in the basket with the empty potion bottle, and went to stand on the very edge of the high rock. "Gonna jump on in and find my dad." It felt weird talking while his neck was undergoing... whatever this was.

"I'll go in after you," she said warmly.

"Right. Right," Desmond said. And then he jumped.

As soon as the ocean closed over him, there was a shift in his neck. The folds... he felt them _open_ , and draw in cold water. By instinct, he wanted to choke and hold his breath, but-

He was breathing. It was working.

 _Of course it's working, fuckface,_ he said to himself. _Mom wouldn't have me do this if she wasn't fucking sure the potion worked._ And it wasn't like this was the first magic thing she'd done on their trip. Every night, instead of going to hotels, they stayed in a cabin that shrank down to pocket-sized during the day. And when he'd gotten bitten by fire ants, she'd numbed the spot with a simple touch of her finger. She was a good fucking witch, Desmond had plenty proof of that.

He touched a hand to his neck again. Yeah, those were gills, definitely. They felt a little like they shouldn't be touched, so he pulled his hand away. It was kind of like touching your eyeball, or the back of your throat.

Instinct was telling him to rise to the surface, but he fought it, made himself stay treading water underwater.

Lena dove in beside him soon after. Desmond waved and gestured at her.

"You can talk, mijito," she said, bubbles coming from her mouth. Her voice was different than usual, not as clear. Duh, of course, they were underwater, so the sound didn't carry the same way.

"Testing," Desmond said carefully. Bubbles also came when he spoke. "Okay. Yeah. I can breathe, and talk, and- ooh." His limbs tingled, and when he looked, there were thin membranes growing between his fingers and toes, and his skin texture was changing, becoming less soft and more slick, almost waxy. "Wow." He grinned at his mother.

She grinned back. "I'll go northeast and you go southeast. Sound good?"

"Fine by me." And with that, they parted ways to search.


	3. Searching the Sea (part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Desmond meets Alex, who doesn't give a shit about pronouns.
> 
> Story title changed because a chapter of nearly 3k words is definitely not a "ficlet".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter rating: Teen (references to sex)

After an initial gradual slope, the seabed slanted down sharply. The moonlight from the surface was dimmer and dimmer the further Desmond went. But he had the glow of the amulet to illuminate his immediate vicinity, and his magic sight to search the distance.

He wasn't sure exactly what to look for. Did mermaids live in cities? Small groups? Individually? Did they build houses? Skyscrapers- or seascrapers, rather? Did they dig caves into the sand? All these questions were stuff he shoulda asked his mother. He only knew they would glow in his magic sight, as all Mythics did. His mother had a cinnamon pink aura. The gnome they'd bought supplies from yesterday was a mossy green. Desmond himself was a faintish blue-silver. Maybe that was the color his dad would be, when he found him.

Fish and eels and seahorses and other creatures swam past him from time to time. They didn't glow. Even the brightest orange ones were dull and desaturated in his magic sight.

He must've been hundreds of meters down by now. "Do these mermaids live on the ass-crack bottom of the ocean?" he asked aloud, because the silence was putting him off. "In the freaking Marinaras Trench? ...Damn, my voice sounds weird underwater."

A muffled sound, something like a horn, came from overhead. He looked up and saw, far far above him, the tiny outline of a boat's bottom hull. It could've been any size of ship, but at this distance it seemed like a rowboat to Desmond.

"At least it's not cold," he said to himself. "Maybe the potion's helping me out with that too." Bubbles were still coming out when he talked, though not as much as initially. He figured the gills were pulling oxygen from the water and then routing it to his lungs, rather than directly to his bloodstream like if he was a fish.

As he continued down, the light-colored sand gave way to darker sand, and gravel, and mossy stone. And down here there were a lot of rock formations jutting up too. He swam carefully and slowly to avoid them, as some looked quite jagged and sharp, and he couldn't see more than about six feet ahead with the amulet's light.

He swam and swam for hours.

Suddenly in the near distance loomed a larger formation. He swung his hands forward, the webs catching the water to brake his momentum. He breathed deep and looked up at the rocky thing.

It was two times taller than his height, and many many times longer, the back part stretching off to his left. The surface was a dirty, bricky red-brown color, rough on some parts, smooth on others.

It was a cave, he realized.

And there was a shadow moving on the wall of the cave.

Desmond moved behind another rock and carefully watched the shadow for a bit, trying to decipher the shape of what was casting it. It was definitely something _animalia_ , not a sea plant waving in the currents.

And it had a red glow in magic sight. _That's a Mythic_ , Desmond thought with glee. He turned off the sight then, so that he could see this Mythic in finer detail.

As he was focusing on the cave, something touched Desmond's foot, and he yelped. It turned out to just be a stringy seaweed fragment tumbling along the seafloor. But when he looked back at the cave mouth, he realized the thing in the cave must have heard him, for now the shadow was moving outward along the far rock wall.

Desmond held as still as he could, and kept his eyes fixed on the dark sinuous shape starting to emerge. His heart was thudding like a marcher's drum as the entire creature came into view.

Dark dark black skin, pebbled like asphalt. But also ashy grey skin, looking soft as bedsheets. They were a fantastical fusion, like a mermaid, except not. Mermaids were fish-tailed, but this creature... they had no tail at all. Below their waist sprouted many long thick tentacles, too many to count, swirling clouds of silt as they moved forward over the seabed.

And then the creature turned to look at Desmond. Their eyes were large and round and clear; they had no nose; they had a strong jawline. Black hair, even blacker than their tentacled half, flowed around their head and shoulders, following every micro-current. The whole look of the creature was altogether quite stunning.

Slowly, Desmond drew in another cold-water-breath as the creature approached him. The oxygen calmed his heart a tiny bit, and he moved out from behind the rock, since the creature obviously already knew he was there. "H- hello?"

The creature stumbled over their response the same way. "H- hello." They floated a bit closer and then stopped a yard away by digging into the seabed with their back tentacles. "Not often I have anyone visit."

"My name's Desmond," said Desmond.

"My name's" -the creature said something Desmond didn't hear clearly. Maybe it was the deep water pressure playing havoc with his eardrums, or maybe he was still too stunned to take in new information.

The creature's body was fat and sturdy, like an Olympic weightlifter. Except that Olympic weightlifters generally had legs. At least, the ones that Desmond was familiar with. He wondered now if Mythics had their own secret sporting events.

Desmond made himself stop staring like they were on opposite sides of a cage in a zoo. "Are you a mermaid? Sorry, merman? Merperson?" The creature sure seemed to read as male, but it was better not to assume, Desmond figured, especially when it came to Mythics.

"Prototi."

"Prototi?"

"Pro-to-tee," the creature repeated for him. "Some say 'octo-mer'. Perhaps you've heard that instead." They were still looking Desmond over conspicuously. "And what kind are you?"

"Hah, I don't even know." Desmond went to do that nervous neck-rub thing, but when his fingers brushed the gills it still stung so he pulled his hand away again. "That's- that's why I'm down here. I'm looking for a guy who might be my father. A merman named William Miles."

The creature looked up into his eyes, their gaze flat. "I don't know any merfolk named Miles."

"Uh, he also went by Alrak... Alkallra... Alakrikak? Something like that. Starts with A, ends with K, has a lot of Ls in it."

Translucent red membranes slid across the creature's eyes, and then retracted again. "I've never heard a name like that. You use the human alphabet?"

"There's lots of human alphabets actually. But yes."

The creature slumped a bit, floating backwards. "It bothers me. How the human culture is so... prevalent, even among Mythics, even down here. We forget our own language and must use theirs, just to get by." They smoothed an area of sand between them and Desmond. "My mother only was able to teach us a couple dozen words of Protostoma."

Desmond didn't know how to respond to this. "That's sad, yeah."

"Stoma." One of the creature's tentacles lengthened and narrowed and drew a squiggle in the flat sand. "Means mouth, or language, or communication. Protos." They drew a more angular design in front of the first one. "Us, we, the family."

Desmond nodded with a smile of realization. "So your language is literally 'our language'?"

The creature made a pleased sound- at least the sound seemed pleased to Desmond- deep in their chest, purr-like.

"Cool... So, uh. Do you live here alone?"

"Yes." The creature drew a narrow angle in the sand.

"No family, friends nearby?"

"Alone." They stopped writing, and looked Desmond in the face again. "My sister is gone, two seasons past. My mother is gone, eight seasons past."

Desmond inhaled, the feeling cold and sharp. "Ooh. Sorry."

"Perhaps it is nine," the creature said. "Was it nine? No, it's summer now, correct?"

Desmond nodded. "Yeah."

They made another sound, tired-or-bitter this time, Desmond guessed. "Then it's only eight yet." They touched their stomach. "When did you last eat?"

"Uh, a while ago. Why, do you have food?"

"Yes," the creature said, backing towards their cave. They curled a few tendrils at Desmond, beckoning him to follow. The inner surface of each tentacle was a deep, ridged red. "You must have traveled far. Come, I will feed you."

Desmond thought about it. There was no guarantee that what this guy ate was safe for humans. But, at that moment, he decided he was hungry enough to disregard the risk. He followed the creature. "Uh, I didn't hear your name, sorry. Can you say it again?"

"A-lex," the creature said a bit slower, still continuing to beckon him.

"Alex, okay."

They entered the cave. Desmond's amulet cast a soft glow over the inner walls. "What does that do?" Alex asked, looking at it. Their pupils contracted sharply at the light, becoming tiny pinholes.

"It'll guide me back where I came from when I'm done here. And I need light to see, so it helps with that too." He took another look at it, noticing a little number faintly visible on the border. "Oh, and apparently it also shows the time. Useful as hell!"

"Interesting."

The cave mouth was narrow, but past that it widened. The interior was all one room, a long ovoid in shape. At the heart of it, there was a hydrothermal vent, spewing out warm water and the smell of sulphur. The chimney formations around it were decorated with twine and shells and other things.

Alex took a sieve-basket that was hanging over the vent, and opened it. They asked Desmond, "Do you eat harpac?"

"Eat what?" Desmond looked into the basket, finding it full of shrimp-like critters that had been cooked through by the vent's heat. "Oh yeah, I can eat these, I'm pretty sure."

Alex smiled again. They took out one of the prawns, tore the shell away, and pressed the meat of it to Desmond's lips.

Surprised, Desmond almost protested. But the moment he opened his mouth to say something, Alex popped the prawn in. It tasted smoky and salty and a little bitter, extremely strong, but quite good. He chewed the plump meat for a bit and then swallowed it. "Wow. Awesome."

"Harpac," Alex said again. "There were a lot of them last time I hunted." They peeled another one and held it to Desmond's lips again. "Glad you are here to partake."

Desmond took the prawn by the tail and scooted a few inches back. "I can feed myself."

"Oh-huh," Alex said.

Desmond thought maybe they sounded insulted. "Thank you though!" he said brightly. "Should I feed you some?" He took another prawn out, sat on a little plateau of rock, and started peeling it.

Alex burbled pleasantly and set themself down beside Desmond, waiting patiently for him to get the shell off, which was tricky. They opened their mouth when Desmond had the prawn ready, and Desmond dropped it in among their many shark-like teeth.

Desmond laughed nervously. "What sharp teeth you have!"

Alex gnashed the prawn to bits quickly, and swallowed. "Did something happen to your teeth? Or, in your kind, are those flat ones normal?"

"This is normal," Desmond assured him, and took a bite of another prawn for demonstration. "See, works just fine."

Two of Alex's tentacles pulled another prawn out and got to work peeling it, but their eyes didn't leave Desmond. "What's that, on your body?"

"Oh these? These are clothes."

"Clothes?"

"Yeah, clothes." Desmond patted his shorts. "I was up on land before, and on land, there's this cultural thing about covering your genitals."

"Genitals." Alex paused, gaze moving curiously over Desmond's shirt and shorts. "Your genitals are... extensive."

"Well you have to cover other things too," Desmond addended.

"Oh."

Desmond laughed.

Alex offered yet another prawn for him.

Desmond let him put it in his mouth again. _Must be a cultural thing about feeding your guests this way_ , he figured.

Alex ate another prawn on their own and then gave the last one to Desmond.

"Mmm-mmm, good," Desmond said. "Thanks again. So, uh. D'you know anything about merfolk near here?"

Alex twisted their neck as if getting rid of a cramp in it. "The nearest ones are the cold-sea mer. But they are not near now."

 _Mom did say he was Inuit,_  Desmond thought, _so that's probably them_. "Whatd'ya mean, 'not now'?"

"It's the wrong season."

"Wrong season?"

"It's summer," Alex said, patient as a tardigrade. "They have gone back to the colder sea."

Desmond groaned and shook his head. "God, they fucking migrate. Super." He got up and helpfully put the basket-sieve back on its hook over the vent.

Alex got up quickly. "It shouldn't go there, unless it's cooking." They moved it over to a place on the other side of the cave, amongst other items: some nets, some harpoons, some books.

"You have books?" Desmond asked, getting up. "Underwater?"

"Yes," Alex said, turning back to him. "Dana used to bring them to me."

Desmond swam over. "What kinda books?"

"Prototi writing, mostly." Alex picked up a red volume from one of the stacks. "It's a special interest of mine. I learned some from Dana and the rest I figured out myself." They opened the book and showed Desmond a sample of text: large characters in flowing lines back-and-forth, some sharply angled, some round and soft. "This one is an old fable, of a Cepha who courts his Pecuni, but he rejects him."

Desmond chuckled and grinned. "Okay I have lots of questions about that. First off, you have gay fables?"

"What is gay?"

 _Guess they only know basic English._ "If a man wants to court a man and not a woman, he's gay, and the relationship is gay. Or if a woman wants to court a woman and not a man. The woman one's also called lesbian, but let's stick with gay and keep it simple for now."

Alex's eye-membranes slid across their eyes. "Ah," they said.

Desmond wondered if the deep blue of Alex's eyes was truly there, or if that was the water's hue fooling him. "Okay, so, now your turn to teach me something. What's Ceppho and Pascuni mean? Are they names, or-"

Alex shook his head. "Cepha, Cepha is the one who was... leader of a settlement. Back when we had settlements. And Pecuni is... the one who divides when- he who chooses..." They shook their head again, frustrated this time. "I don't know a good way to say it in human language."

"That's fine. Actually, shit, I'm getting distracted from the mission. Do you know what season the mermaids come back?" Desmond asked.

"Winter."

"Ah fuck." Desmond looked at his amulet, and then at Alex. "No use in me searching for them tonight then." He patted Alex on the shoulder cordially. "Thanks for the meal and the hospitality." He began to swim for the cave mouth.

"Wait," Alex said, the word a quick low grunt.

Desmond grabbed the lip of the cave to stop and turned back to look at them.

Alex moved their mouth a bit, wordlessly, then said, "Don't go yet."

"Why?"

Alex appeared to be suddenly tense. They set the red book down without looking and swam over to Desmond. "Listen... I want you."

"...You want me?"

"I... have been alone. So many seasons."

"Alone, wha- Oh!" Desmond was hit with a sudden blush. "You mean alone in that way."

Alex shook with quiet laughter. "Yes, Desmond. Yes."

"Oh- I- but we're not even the same species!"

"What's species?"

"The kind of creatures we are." Desmond motioned between his body and Alex's. "You're Prototi, I'm... something else."

"That makes no difference," Alex said. "We can reach release together nonetheless."

Desmond crossed his arms over his chest. "Look, I'm really flattered, but like, we barely just met. I don't even know your pronouns."

"What's pronouns?"

"Oh god," Desmond sighed. "Like... your sister, she's 'she' right?"

The red membranes blinked over Alex's eyes again. "Yes. She is she."

"And if I was gonna talk about you, are you they, or he, or she? Or something else?"

"What? I am Alex."

"Yeah but do I say 'Alex asked me to fuck them? Fuck him? Fuck her?'"

"What's fuck?"

Desmond snorted with laughter. It made bubbles spurt out of his nose and his gills. "Fuck is have sex."

"Fuck," Alex repeated, then again, more strongly. "Fuck. Yes. Desmond, I want to fuck with you." They grinned.

With that big ol' smile beaming at him, Desmond's heart flipped in his chest. The pronoun question was forgotten. This guy, this Prototi, was certainly attractive enough, even though they only had a half-human body. Maybe that was a positive, even. Desmond couldn't help but wonder how the tentacles would feel on him.

Alex swam a little closer to him. "You smell like you're interested," they said, voice lilting up and down melodically.

 _Oh god, they can smell that on me?_ Desmond's face flushed again. "Y- yeah. I'm interested. But I'm supposed to be looking for my father."

"Your father the merman. He's in the colder sea. I told you."

"Frick, right." Desmond laughed, spilling out more bubbles until he almost choked.

Alex rushed forward and put an arm around him. "Are you okay?"

Desmond forced himself to breathe. "M'fine. Fine. Haa. Okay." He put his arm around Alex in return. "Well. I've got a while left before I have to go back." He checked his amulet. A numeral **6** was slowly pulsing at the bottom of it. "Oh yeah, I've got tons of time." He smiled cautiously at Alex. "I... Yeah, I'm interested. Show me what you've got, man."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> will i post the actual sex? who knows, who knows?


	4. Searching the Sea (part 3)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter rating: Explicit (TENTACLE FUCKIN, YEAAA)

"I... Yeah, I'm interested." Desmond phrased it that way quite deliberately. Interested was distinct from agreeing to anything quite yet. "Show me what you've got, man."

"Let me make you comfortable first," Alex appealed, and led Desmond back into their cave, past the hydrothermal vent, past the books and nets, to the back wall where there was a patch of seaweed, or actually more like long seagrass. They guided Desmond to lay down in it.

The seagrass was far softer and more supportive than Desmond had expected; it felt like he was lying on a sort of cross between a waterbed and a picnic blanket spread on a summer lawn. "This is nice," he said to Alex.

"You are nice," Alex replied. They smoothed a hand over Desmond's hair, and then when there was no complaint about that, they stroked Desmond's shoulders, feeling the warmth of his brown, sun-speckled flesh.

Desmond exhaled. He was glad Alex seemed to be taking this encounter slow. He'd had sex before, more than a handful of times, in a couple of relationships that had ultimately failed to pan out. However, this was his first time doing a casual hook-up.

Also his first time with a Mythic, so there was that, too.

"Tell me if I do anything unpleasant," Alex said, one hand tracing down to the dip of Desmond's collarbone, the other pressing into the texture of his mesh shirt.

"This is fine so far," Desmond said. He realized just now that Alex had six fingers on each hand. The extra one was like another thumb on the opposite side. "A little strange, but not bad."

Alex hummed.

"I should take my clothes off, I guess." Desmond pulled off his shirt and flung it away. The light poly-rayon caught a mini current and swam across to the cave wall before settling to the floor.

After a couple seconds' pause, where the pair just stared at each other, Desmond began tugging his trunks off too. Since Alex wasn't doing anything in the moment, Desmond decided to ask a pertinent question. "What do you have, in terms of genitals?"

Alex's black tentacles all shifted suddenly, like parting hair, and revealed the inner color of dark blood-red. "I have this," they said, touching a foot-long tentacle that was differently-textured, and fatter than the rest.

"O-oh," Desmond said, sitting up to see it better. "That's like, your penis?"

"Yes," Alex said, and perhaps they were blushing, but it was difficult to tell in the dim light and with their grey skin.

"Really big. Does the... whole length of it go in?"

"No? What a ridiculous concept."

"Oh, alright." That made Desmond feel way better. He shuffled on the seagrass, finding it a bit difficult to pull his trunks off now that there was all this webbing between his fingers.

"I can help," Alex said, and tugged the bottom hems while Desmond pulled on the waistband. Soon Desmond was bare before them, his heart thudding loud in his ears. Alex used a long tentacle to place the trunks over with the shirt. "Tell me what you would like now."

Desmond breathed in deep. For a creature that looked so grim, Alex was so very cautious and courteous about this. "Well." He opened his legs a bit. "You can touch me. But don't put anything in the front. Only in the back, and only if you go slow."

Alex settled between his legs. (They would have been kneeling, if they were a species that had knees.) "There is a front and back?" they asked, mildly surprised.

"Yeah," Desmond answered. "Touching the front feels really nice. But if you're gonna- with your penis- then- back only." Holy shit he was flustered.

"Ah, the back is the reproductive canal," Alex said, eyes widening.

"Sure, yeah." For a one-night stand, a little misinformation wouldn't hurt.

Alex put a careful hand on Desmond's thick thatch of pubic hair. "I have not seen anything like this before," they said, making furrows in it with their fingers.

One finger grazed Desmond's cock, and he let out a little sound.

"What's that?" Alex asked, looking up to make eye contact with him.

"That's- ah-"

Looking down, Alex purposely parted the hair to get a better view. "Your penis?" they asked, touching it again with a fingertip.

"Yeah. Or 'cock'. Do you know the word 'cock'?"

"I know it now," Alex said with a smile. They began to rub along both sides of Desmond's length.

Desmond let out a little pleased grunt, his legs falling open wider. "Ah. Yeah."

Alex smiled bigger, and sank their head against Desmond, cheek resting on his chest.

Desmond's breath was coming quicker now, gills fluttering and bubbles leaving his mouth in spurts.

Alex lifted their head and slowed their strokes. "You smell... lively," they said softly.

"Lively? What?" Desmond tried sniffing the water, but his nose muscles seemed to not be working: all that happened was his gills pulled in some more oxygen.

"Maybe that's not the word. You smell of... power?"

"I've n- never been told that before," Desmond said. Perhaps Prototi had extra senses. Alex didn't even have a nose, but apparently they could smell "power".

Alex blinked and inhaled noticeably through their own gills. "Taya. In Protostoma the word is taya. It is when the body is..." They appeared to be thinking hard.

"Don't worry about it," said Desmond lightly. "Whatever it is, it's something good, right?"

"Yes. Yes." Alex went back to stroking him. "I like your cock. It's- Oh. You are oozing something."

"That's normal," Desmond said quickly. "Means- mff- you're doing a good job."

Some of Alex's smaller tentacles rose up and tested the feel of the substance their partner was secreteing.

Heat flashed through Desmond's core at their little touches, and he moaned appreciatively. The tentacles were dexterous, flicking his pubes out of the way and running along his labia, using suckers to grab and release little bits of slick warm flesh.

"This is sooo interesting," Alex said. Their voice had been low before, but it was even lower now, throaty and bassy and sexual.

Desmond loved the way the voice sounded, the way that it wove through the water and struck his ears like a drumbeat.

Alex raised two of their tentacles to their mouth and tasted Desmond's juices. "Ohh. Paka taya," they murmured, licking at it sultrily.

"You can... eat it directly, if ya like," Desmond offered with a hand gesture.

Alex grinned wide with sharp teeth.

 _Oh._ Desmond had second thoughts. He was trying to think of how to politely say "actually no", but when Alex dove their head down into his crotch and began to lick, he gasped and shook with pleasure. "God, fff, okay just- be careful," he stuttered. 

"Good, goooood," Alex said, drawing the words out long and lustily.

Desmond kinda wanted to push Alex's head in closer, but he didn't know how they'd respond to that, so instead he started pumping his hips up and down.

"Oh, yes good," Alex said in response. They sucked gently on Desmond's cock as some more of their tentacles went up to his labia. A few other tentacles ran along his thighs, sending hot tingles down to the soles of his feet.

Alex found new delights in tasting this region, mapping out the unknown biology with their tongue. Certain parts were stiff, and certain other parts were pliable, and all of Desmond was throbbing with warmth. Warmth was a sign of much taya. They still couldn't think of the translation, but they forced it out of their mind to pay more attention to the act in progress.

Alex made another deep purring sound on Desmond's crotch. One of Desmond's legs kicked out involuntarily at the sudden vibration. "Oh? Is it something wrong?" Alex asked, pulling back.

"No, I'm fine, keep going," Desmond said quickly. "I just feel- feel like I might float away, or something."

Alex purred again and added two more strong tentacles, securing Desmond down with a just-firm-enough grip on his ankles.

Desmond gasp-laughed. "Good, yeah, good thinking. Let's go like this." He went back to thrusting into Alex's mouth, eyes closed tight. He sometimes grazed the very edge of teeth, but then Alex would adjust their head angle and feel the grazed area with their tongue to make sure there was no injury. It was wildly erotic, dangerous but also intimate and loving.

A couple tentacles, exploring further, found Desmond's asscrack, and at this point Alex pulled up and looked inquisitive. "What is this part?" they said, squeezing the left cheek.

"It's my butt," Desmond said, unable to keep the big goofy grin off his blushing face.

Alex squeezed again. "Butt," they said thoughtfully. "Front orifice, back orifice, cock, butt. Your kind has so many sexual organs."

"Hah, the butt's not really a sexual organ. It is kind of an erogenous zone, though." Desmond took one of Alex's hands and guided it behind him. "Here."

"What? Oh." A grin came over Alex's face as they found the asshole. "You ready for it?" they asked, cock lifting.

"Woah, let's start with smaller stuff," Desmond advised. "Work your way up to the main event."

"Reasonable," Alex said, their penis flopping onto Desmond's stomach. They pressed two fingers into the warm hole.

Desmond's back arched. "Oh yes," he hissed, blowing frizzles of air out slowly as Alex breached him, slowly stretching and pulling.

Alex grinned again. They extended more small tentacles behind Desmond, slipping in and testing the waters, as it were.

Desmond gasped, hips bucking against Alex's gentle hold. The tentacles- they were _so good_. Soft and warm, gentle yet firm. And the larger tentacle, the penis-tentacle laying against him, it was hot with pulsing blood, and he was already thinking about how it would feel inside. Desmond put a hand on it to test.

At the touch, Alex made a soft purr sound.

"Do you like that?" Desmond asked.

"Oh yesss." 

So, Desmond smiled and gripped the organ more boldly. His fingers had trouble getting all the way around it, but he stroked it the best he could manage. There were weird little muscley ridges periodically along the length of it, and the skin in between the ridges was secreteing a slick fluid.

Alex sighed out another, louder "Yes" and began to undulate their torso.

"Ah!" Desmond gasped. The ridges rubbing along Desmond's crotch sparked a wild arousal in his belly. He tried to keep up the handjob as best he could with these ongoing sensations to his cock and ass distracting him somewhat. "God, this- nnh, so good!"

The tentacle-ettes in his ass flexed and began to prod even deeper. "Ohh," Alex murmured, "this will feel wonderful when I place my penis inside here."

"Mmnh!" Desmond clenched on Alex, edging closer. "Yes. Do it. Fuck me." He slid his hand over Alex's penis a couple more times and then let it go. "Do it," he said again.

Alex lifted their body and resettled back between Desmond's legs. Their penis moved gracefully to Desmond's back entrance and pressed in, the tentacle-ettes spreading him open. 

Desmond shivered, feeling the slow-slow breach, so warm and so nice. Alex had prepared him well, and their cock seemed to contract a little as it entered. It was still a noticeable girth, but the slick secretion was helping things along. He held onto Alex's arms, his mouth open, his eyes closed, his whole consciousness just concentrating on all these new exotic sensations.

When the first ridge of muscle popped into him, he let out a grunty noise.

"Are you good?" Alex asked.

Desmond gave a nod. "Yeah." He opened his eyes and smiled again. "Feels great."

Alex smiled back, their sharp teeth all interlocking and shiny. The dot of light from Desmond's amulet reflected in their grin.

Desmond tugged Alex's arm gently. "C'mon. Move along."

Alex moved closer, their arms encircling Desmond loosely as he entered further. The little tentacles pulled out entirely, and another ridge squeezed in. And then another. And another.

Alex stopped after five of the ridges had passed. "Are you good to take more?" they asked, breathing heavily.

"Bit more, bit more..."

Another ridge. And then another.

"I'm... not going to withstand... much longer," Alex gasped.

Desmond pulled Alex's cheek close and kissed them. "I'm close too, so c'mon. Move in and out," he requested shakily.

"What? In and out?"

"Fuckin' yeah. Pound me until we both come."

After a half-second pause, Alex adjusted their arms and bottom tentacles, and began to piston slowly within Desmond.

"O-oh," Desmond said. It was an unusual feeling. Alex wasn't actually thrusting in the traditional sense (maybe they couldn't actually, without legs) but they were sure getting the job of moving their cock done. "Mm, yeah!" Desmond's gills almost hurt from how fast he was panting through them. "Fuck, and touch my cock too, please!"

Alex moved a hand down and inexpertly pulled at his pulsing shaft. "Good?"

"Fuck, yeah, so good." Desmond rocked his hips into the dual stimulation. "I'm... gonna... come..."

"I'll fill you up," Alex rasped in his ear.

"Nnn, yes!"

"Yes!" Alex's cry resounded in the small cavern.

A whirlwind of bubbles rose out of the two as they rutted on the seagrass. Desmond curled an arm around Alex, pulling them close for another fast kiss, against their lips this time. Alex didn't know what to do with this.

"Gonna come," Desmond whispered, "fuck, I'm gonna come."

"Yes. Do it," Alex said, almost like a taunt, and moved their hand faster. "Both- let's both come." They felt Desmond clench again. "Yes!"

"Ah, mmh- fuck! God! Alex!!" Desmond threw his head back and pumped his hips up one more time before falling limp as a wave of heat crashed across his skin, prickly and uncontrollable. Alex cried out and let loose several spasms of thick heavy fluid, before finally crumpling exhausted onto Desmond's chest.

Desmond gulped a few great breaths to get his heart back down to a normal speed. One breath. Two breaths. Three breaths. "Unh..." He patted Alex's back. "Can you move?"

"Yes, of course." They rolled to lay beside Desmond on the bed of grass.

"Ooof." A soft laugh bubbled up from Desmond. "That was pretty great."

"Mm. It was." Alex turned and placed a hand on Desmond's chest. "Thank you."

"Ahh..." Desmond sighed, stretching out on the grass.

"'Come' is your word for 'release', correct?"

"Oh. Yeah, yeah." It made sense they didn't know slang, living all alone at the bottom of the ocean like this.

Alex tapped idly on Desmond's chest. "What is the action you did with your mouth?" they asked after another moment. 

"What?"

They touched a finger to their cheek and then to their lips.

"Oh, that's kissing."

"Ki-sing. Huh." Alex blinked their red eyelids again. "That's new to me."

Desmond chuckled and put a hand over Alex's. "You're nice.... It'd be nice if I could stay."

"Why can you not?"

"Like I said, I live on land most of the time." He moved his hand to indicate his gills. "I only have these for a day to help my mom look for my dad."

"Your what?"

"Mom means mother, dad means father."

"Ah. Thank you. These are all human words, are they?"

"Yeah."

Alex frowned. "I wish that I knew more of my own language." They sat up and rippled across the cave to the bookshelf. "Many of these I cannot read. My mother was not very helpful. Reading and writing was not taught to the..." They trailed off, frowning again. "I do not even know this word in human! Or I have forgotten it! Ugh." They turned back to Desmond. "It is a miracle I can even talk with you, and haven't forgotten all words with these many seasons alone!"

Desmond sat up, hugging his knees. "You're obviously very intelligent."

Alex grunted softly and went to Desmond's clothing pile. "Do you want these now?"

"I guess I'll put them on now, yeah." If he was up on land he would've showered first, but the water currents had him feeling clean already. "Probably I'll have a couple hours sleep before I leave." He lifted his amulet to check the time. The glowing number had changed to **7** , meaning it was seven hours since when the potion's effect had started. "Oh yeah, I've got time for sleep."

"When are you leaving?"

"Uh." Desmond thought a moment. Alex almost certainly wouldn't know the human clock system. "I have to reach shore by the middle of night."

"Ah! I remember it!" Alex said, eyes widening. "I remember it, that human word for... like my mother and sister. You said it earlier. 'Wumem'."

Desmond tilted his head. "Uh, you mean 'women'?"

Alex set down his clothes on the seagrass. "Hm. Yes. Women. Written language was not taught to the women."

"Rude! Why the fuck not?"

Alex made a foreign gesture with their hands. "Tradition says that writing is unnecessary for hunting and guarding."

"And those are women's things, in your culture?" Desmond asked, slipping his clothes back on.

Alex started to answer, but then dropped their head forlornly. "There is none of my culture left."

Desmond felt the Prototi's sadness radiating. He had no idea what words he should say to help their mood. 

"My family was always fractured and alone. I don't know what happened to my father. My mother fell to... a sickness, a poison." Alex sank to the floor beside the hydrothermal vent. "Dana and I were the supports of each other for many seasons. She made a habit of going exploring, to look for other Prototi that may still live, and to bring me whatever remnants of records from dead settlements she came across."

"But she hasn't come around in a while, has she?" Desmond said glumly.

"Yes, as I said." Alex was running their fingers across the cave floor, drawing shapes on it as before. "Two seasons."

"That's not too long. She's probably fine."

"You don't know that, Desmond," Alex said gruffly.

"You're right, I don't." Desmond tried switching the topic. "Um. So, tell me about yourself?"

Alex blinked slowly. "There is little to tell."

"Well, what do you do all day?"

"I stay here. I read the books," they gestured to the shelf, "but much of what is written I don't understand for certain." They exhaled bubbles. "I try to... construct what the unknown marks might mean."

"So, you would've learned to read from your father, if he'd been around?"

"Possibly." Alex scowled at the dirt. "My mother said he was not good. Possibly he would not have been able or willing to teach."

Desmond frowned. This topic wasn't any cheerier than the topic of Dana's whereabouts. He patted the grass. "D'you wanna lay down with me? Sleep together? Since you've been so lonely lately?"

Alex tilted their head, apparently in thought. "Oh yes, that would be nice. But first, a occu so that you have the time for your return." Before Desmond could ask what this meant, Alex got up and swirled their long fingers in a pattern through the water. A vague pink glow began trailing from their short nails, and Desmond realized he was seeing Prototi magic in action.

Alex finished by tapping a spot on their forehead. "Done."

"Done, what?" Desmond asked in curious awe.

"The occu will wake me when the sun begins to dip, and I will wake you," Alex said, moving into the seagrass beside Desmond.

"Oh, it's an alarm!" Desmond grinned wide. "Awesome!"

Alex grinned back, and then they settled down to nap, the Prototi's many tentacles soft and comforting to Desmond's skin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please also take a look at this [OctoMer!Alex Mercer moodboard](Http://theladyisapirate.tumblr.com/post/174216399331/aesthetic-practice-with-dadmondmiles) by theladyisapirate
> 
> and this [wonderful drawing](http://dadmondmiles.tumblr.com/post/178255108898/fantastic-rendition-of-sea-creature-alex-mercer-by) by thatfishything


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